United States v. Justice, No. 11-3208 (10th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant Cody M. Justice pled guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas to possession of a firearm by a felon. In calculating Defendant's offense level under the sentencing guidelines, the district court applied a four-level enhancement under USSG 2K2.1(b)(4) for possession of a weapon with an obliterated serial number and another four-level enhancement under USSG 2K2.1(b)(6) for possession of a firearm in connection with another felony offense. It then imposed a sentence of 108 months' imprisonment. On appeal Defendant contended that the district court improperly applied the 2K2.1(b)(4) enhancement because the serial number to his gun was restored with chemicals and therefore was not obliterated; that the evidence was insufficient to support the 2K2.1(b)(6) enhancement; and that the court applied the 2K2.1(b)(6) enhancement without making the factual finding that a firearm facilitated his drug possession. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit held that "obliterate" in the context of 2K2.1(b)(4) means "to make indecipherable or imperceptible, not necessarily irretrievable;" that the evidence sufficed to show that a firearm facilitated Defendant's possession of drugs by emboldening him; and that the district court's failure to make a specific facilitation finding was not plain error.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.